The Potentials of the Jigsaw Approach: A Study on Saudi Female EFL Learners' Perspectives, Experiences, and Attitudes Towards Their Reading Comprehension Skills
Keywords:
A study on Saudi female EFL learners' perspectives, experiences, and attitudes, reading comprehension skills, the potential of the jigsaw approachAbstract
The jigsaw approach encourages peer interaction and peer tutoring that enhance learners’ interpersonal skills through learning to cooperate in small cooperative groups. The design is particularly utilized in language classrooms to maximize students’ social interaction, learning productivity, engagement, teamwork skills, and proficiency in language skills. This study seeks to evaluate the perceptions of Saudi female EFL students regarding the efficacy of the Jigsaw method and its influence on their reading comprehension difficulties and anxiety. The researcher created a quantitative tool to gather data from the participants. A 40-item Likert scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree was used to generate statistical results from the participants’ perspectives. The study involved both control and experimental groups to assess how Jigsaw influences the social, emotional, and academic abilities of learners. The opinionnaire was distributed to one hundred and ten (n=110) female EFL learners at a Saudi Undergraduate University to record their opinions on the jigsaw approach’s efficacy. The statistical results show that the participants greatly admired the idea of working collaboratively with their peers to internalize learning and achieve their mutual goals. However, the participants negatively responded to the concept eliciting their knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and the recognition of the words in the control group as these items remained the least preferred item in the relevant cluster. Therefore, in the experimental group learners’ perceptions were changed regarding their feedback on these items.
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